


Now You See Me

by NightshadeDawn



Series: That happened... [8]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Imaginary Friends, Imaginary Friends, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-15
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-12-15 12:55:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11806428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightshadeDawn/pseuds/NightshadeDawn
Summary: "You know what you lack? Imagination.""Hardly. I created you, didn't I?"Kageyama was he was left alone a lot and had a hard time talking to other when he was young. He creates himself a friend in the absence of others.





	Now You See Me

**Author's Note:**

> Based off a pintrist prompt: "You know what you lack? Imagination." "Hardly. I created you, didn't I?"

        Kageyama stood on the playground, holding a volleyball in his tiny hands. 

        All of the children paid him no heed, focused only on their own friends. His face didn't fall, not like it would have once. He was much too used to this now.

        Instead, Kageyama carried on towards the side of the school where there were no others. 

        He tossed the ball toward the brick wall, watching as it bounced off and came flying back at him.

_Toss. Hit. Toss. Hit._

        Again and again and again.

        Kageyama would never say it out loud, but he did get lonely. It wasn't his fault that he looked scary, it wasn't his fault he didn't know how to talk to others. 

_Toss. Hit. Toss. Hit. Hit. Hit!_

        The smack of skin on ball sounded echoed in the small corner Kageyama played in. 

        A giggle caught Kageyama off guard, causing the ball to smack him in the face when it came towards him. 

        A small boy, barefoot and clothing hanging loosely off his tiny body, sat in the corner of the alley. 

        "Who- Who are you?!" Kageyama demanded, hand covering his now bruising eyes. 

        The boy giggled again, swinging his legs. He was sitting in a chair. Had there always been a chair there?

        "You're good," he commented, grin wide. "Can I play with you?"

        Kageyama didn't answer, but instead hit the ball again. The boy took it as initiative, and bounced the ball back to Kageyama. He missed, so many times it was laughable. But he smiled and laughed and giggled, jumping out excitably. 

        Kageyama wasn't awkward around this boy. He didn't need to talk much, the boy did all the talking for him. 

        He always appeared out of nowhere.

        When Kageyama was alone during play time, the boy was there to play with him.

        When Kageyama knew he was going to come home to no one there, the boy would skip and sing next to Kageyama during the walk. 

        He would appear outside Kageyama's window on the nights he would lock himself inside his room to escape his parents. 

        Always ready and willing to play volleyball.

        He became a good friend to Kageyama. Kageyama never seemed to find any of it weird, that his friend was always in the oddest places when he needed him. That the boy was always in the same long white shirt and blue shorts and never wore any shoes.

        The boy was the sun incarnate in Kageyama's night like life.

        Days turned to weeks to months to years. Kageyama stopped hoping for friends, because he had that _one_ and that was all he needed. 

        His teacher took Kageyama aside, his parents there as well. 

        "We're very worried about him," his teacher told his parents. "He doesn't play with the other children, and he's always alone-"

        "I'm not alone," Kageyama interrupted. "I play with my friend."

        "What's his name?" Mrs. Kageyama was asked. 

        Kageyama scowled and opened his mouth, fully intending to tell them. But for the life of him, nothing would come out. Kageyama didn't know his friend's name.

        "I- I don't know," Kageyama muttered, feeling terrible. He looked down at his feet, eyes clenched shut to prevent tears. He didn't even know something like that. "But- But here's _there_! He's my best friend in the whole world!"

        Kageyama could see the boy sitting back where he'd been left in the classroom across the hall. The boy grinned. 

        He was there, as clear as day to Kageyama's eyes. 

        Worried glances were cast between the adults and Kageyama was sent to wait out in the hall.

        "There has never been such a boy," his teacher claimed. "Whomever he's seeing, no one else can. It's best you figure out what is wrong."

        Kageyama went to the doctor's the next day.

        It took almost a year for the doctors to decide that no, there was nothing physically or mentally wrong with him. Save for, perhaps, his loneliness.

        They said that perhaps the boy was an imaginary friend, a figment created by Kageyama's subconscious to deal with the lack of peers and parents around.

        Kageyama's parents were outraged at the accusations against them, but bended and signed their son up for volleyball club.

        This didn't help. If anything, Kageyama was more ousted by his peers than before. 

        The boy became a more prominent, and physical, figure in Kageyama's life. But he stopped mentioning the boy around anyone else. 

        They were at the park, Kageyama practicing his serves.

        "Are you really just a figment of my imagination?" Kageyama asked. 

        The boy grinned. He'd grown with Kageyama, only a year away from middle school now. And he wore different clothes each time Kageyama saw him, though still went mostly barefoot. 

        "I prefer imaginary friend. Cause it means I'm your friend, right?"

        "What's your name?"

        "Don't you know? You created me."

        There was a name on Kageyama's tongue, but no names came to mind. Instead, he kept silent. 

        "Ah! I wish I could play volleyball on a real team! I'd be super tall and be able to block really well! Hey, Tobio, do you think I'll get tall?"

        "No, you're gonna stay short."

        "Ahh! You're so mean, Bakayama!"

        The boy continued to stay by Kageyama's side, but he never seemed to grow any more just as Kageyama predicted. 

        Kageyama joined the volleyball team at the middle school. He envied some of his upperclassmen, though they mostly despised him. The boy would appear as Kageyama trudged home to assure him that he wasn't all that bad.

        His second year of middle school, Kageyama got confessed to be a really cute girl, but bluntly turned her down and made her cry. This confused Kageyama, and he found himself in the bathroom to think over what he'd done wrong.

        The boy was sitting on a sink, kicking his feet back and forth and watching Kageyama splash water on his face. 

        "You really could have have handled that better."

        "Shut up."

        "You know what you're problem is? You have no imagination."

        "Hardly. I created you, didn't I?"

        The boy laughed. "Yeah, but I'm almost you. Your obsession with volleyball, you're favorite foods," the boy counted off on his fingers. "I've just got a better personality than you. And I look better, too."

        If he'd been truly real, Kageyama would have lunged at him. Instead, he shot the boy a glare. Suddenly, the boy appeared at Kageyama's shoulder. Though, this wasn't really strange and he was used to it by then.

        "Hey, class is gonna start soon and if you wanna get into high school you gotta pass classes," he pointed out, looking up at Kageyama with wide eyes. "Or are you stupid?"

        Kageyama growled, gripping the boy's hair tightly. The hair was soft and so very, very real. Kageyama still often wondered how he couldn't be. 

        "I'm not the stupid one, dumbass. You are."

        "Again, I'm basically you! You just called yourself stupid."

        After running around in the bathroom after the boy, the bell rang, signalling Kageyama was late for class. 

        His third year was stressful. He _knew_ his team could be good, but they never _listened_! No, he wasn't good at saying what he was trying to, but shouldn't they at least _try_ anyway?

        Kageyama fought and fought and fought to try to get them to understand and when they didn't, he took it out on the boy. Ignored him or yelled at him or snapped.

        He regretted it each time, but he didn't know how to stop. He was stressed, and he was having a hard time handling it.

        There was one night when he was particularly annoyed, and the boy was being particularly persistent, that Kageyama really snapped.

        "Just get lost!" he shouted. "I don't need you here! I've never needed you! I was always fine on my own! You're just bothering me! People think I'm _insane_ because of you! Leave. Me. Alone!"

        The boy's eyes watered as he took a step back. "No," he whispered, turning. "You _weren't_ okay by yourself. That's why I was here. That's why I'm still here. Because you were lonely. But I guess that's not enough anymore."

        By the time Kageyama had looked up, the boy was gone. The room was empty save for Kageyama, just as it always had been.

        But it felt so much colder than ever before.

        The boy did not come back that night, or the next day, or the next week.

        No matter how much Kageyama cried or screamed or begged, he was always alone.

        Kageyama stood on the court, looking across the net at the small boy in front of him. 

        Light, fluffy orange hair. Burning brown eyes. A face that Kageyama had known for forever.

_Hinata Shoyou._

        The name rang in Kageyama's ear. He knew it was true, it was the name of his childhood friend. Kageyama gripped the net tightly in his fingers.

_Let's meet again. Even if on opposite sides of the court, I want to meet you again._


End file.
